About r/ApplyingToCollege
In its own words:
r/ApplyingToCollege is the premier forum for college admissions questions, advice, and discussions, from college essays and scholarships to college list help and application advice, career guidance, and more. A2C supports a welcoming and inclusive environment. Harassment, intimidation, and bullying are not tolerated.
Community guide
r/ApplyingToCollege (#791, about 1.4 million subscribers) — the premier forum for college admissions questions, advice, and discussions, from college essays and scholarships to college list help and application advice, career guidance, and more. A2C… A recent sample averaged 185 posts a day (~100% text). Its public rules include: Be nice!; Admissions-related discussion.; No spam or solicitations.; No chance-me posts.; AMAs.
What belongs here
Stay inside the room’s stated scope rather than adjacent off-topic dumps. Self-promotion and ads are limited—read those rules before linking your own work. Low-effort or empty shitposts are often removed—add real context.
How it differs from lookalikes
Prefer this room when your post matches its description and rules—not merely a larger sibling community. Skim the full public rule list once rather than assuming defaults from similar subs.
Practical pointers
Read the live sidebar/rules before posting; rules can change. Common flairs include: Application Question, College Questions, Advice, Discussion. Volume is high—clear titles help.
The community was created on Aug 2, 2013, which makes it 13 years old. Since Nov 2, 2026, it has gained 1,190 subscribers (+0.09%). Among the 8 communities on our college list it is number 3 by size. It sits just behind r/lotr (#789) and ahead of r/malaysia (#791) in our ranking.
What sets r/ApplyingToCollege apart
Compared with other large communities, r/ApplyingToCollege leans heavily on text posts (100% of recent posts; the typical Top 100 subreddit sits at 35%). For its size it is unusually busy: about 136.2 new posts a day per million members, more than 97% of the Top 100. Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (01:00 UTC) sees about 4.7× as many posts as the quietest (08:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026, r/ApplyingToCollege grew from 1,345,319 to 1,354,981 subscribers (+9.7K, +0.72%). That is about 189 new members per day. The chart shows 10 weekly subscriber counts.
Top posts on r/ApplyingToCollege this week
What the community upvoted most over the last seven days, as ranked by Reddit (collected Nov 8, 2026).
- Larping is a skill people need to embrace - pls remember as you do college apps (Read PSA!!)u/Used-Departure9606 · Nov 6 · text post
- Can colleges see if you “celebrate” on the college app?u/Finofeo · Nov 5 · text post
- cool kids who submitted their application clubu/timer87 · Nov 2 · text post
- Optional SAT Scores are have ruined college applicationsu/IKillZombies4Cash · Nov 4 · text post
- Would you press a button to explode a top applicant to your dream school?u/materialgalll · Nov 5 · text post
- Thank you to my Recommenderu/LeadingCarpet3775 · Nov 2 · text post
- ED agreement to UMich not signedu/No_Garlic_432 · Nov 1 · text post
- Why are SAT scores so high these days?u/Good_Adhesiveness_75 · Nov 6 · text post
- I’m so proud of myself omgu/SaltOpinion9197 · Nov 1 · text post
- Officially going to college!u/SwimInitial1987 · Nov 5 · text post
All-time top posts
The highest-ranked posts in the history of r/ApplyingToCollege, from 2017 to 2022, ranked by Reddit.
- I tried to kiss my interviewer! Are my chances ruined?u/Ununpentium_115 · Jan 19, 2020 · 9,873 points · 1,144 comments · text post
- ok so I thought this was a bot and sometimes I text bots things like this but this person actually RESPONDEDFeb 4, 2021 · image
- My theory: Stanford doesn't exist. Let me explain why.u/exposethetruth123 · Mar 30, 2017 · 9,900 points · 809 comments · text post
- Not exactly a fairy tale ending but close enough?u/DartmouthSimp · Apr 7, 2021 · text post
- Day 79/79 of waiting for a Dartmouth acceptanceu/DartmouthSimp · Apr 6, 2021 · text post
- What’s up guys, Chloe here! Let’s put a face to the name, shall we? 😂u/ChloefromOregon · Feb 11, 2021 · image
- I got roasted in my stanford interview yesterday.u/breadwinner235 · Nov 10, 2018 · 9,433 points · 837 comments · text post
- Class of 2020u/New-Condition · Mar 11, 2020 · 9,377 points · 159 comments · image
- Common app has a typo in their essay prompts lolNov 11, 2020 · image
- Uno ReverseMar 10, 2021 · image
What r/ApplyingToCollege talks about
We read the titles of 700 recent posts (Oct 29–Nov 5), the words that come up most are “college”, “help”, “essay”, “sat” and “common”. Other frequent themes are app, application, personal, school, question and colleges. Recurring phrases include “common app”, “personal statement”, “sat scores” and “yale rea”. By format, 100% are text posts.
Popular post flairs: Application Question (317), College Questions (100), Advice (82), Discussion (43), Personal Essay (26), Financial Aid/Scholarships (22).
Activity and best time to post
r/ApplyingToCollege gets about 180 new posts a day. The public archive holds 977,930 posts and 8,373,013 comments in total, about 8.6 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Sunday (274 posts) and the quietest was Wednesday (174). Posting peaks around 01:00 UTC and is lowest around 08:00 UTC.
Rules of r/ApplyingToCollege
The moderators of r/ApplyingToCollege list 9 rules. In short:
- Be nice!
- Admissions-related discussion.
- No spam or solicitations.
- No chance-me posts.
- AMAs.
- No affirmative action discussion.
- Do not post personally identifying/sensitive info
- Shitpost Wednesdays
- Other posts and comments may be removed at moderator discretion.
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How many members does r/ApplyingToCollege have?
r/ApplyingToCollege has 1,354,981 subscribers (Nov 9, 2026), which makes it the #790 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 9,662 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026.
How old is r/ApplyingToCollege?
r/ApplyingToCollege was created on Aug 2, 2013, so it has been around for 13 years. The oldest post in the public archive is from Oct 4, 2013.
How active is r/ApplyingToCollege?
Very active: r/ApplyingToCollege gets about 180 new posts a day (average of the last four weeks). Over its lifetime the archive counts 977,930 posts and 8,373,013 comments. In a sample of 700 recent posts we counted 587 different authors.
When is r/ApplyingToCollege most active?
Based on post counts from Oct 29, 2026 to Nov 4, 2026, the busiest day was Sunday and the quietest Wednesday, and most posts arrive around 01:00 UTC, with the fewest around 08:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What is r/ApplyingToCollege about?
The community describes itself as: “r/ApplyingToCollege is the premier forum for college admissions questions, advice, and discussions, from college essays and scholarships to college list help and application advice, career guidance, and more. A2C suppor…” Recent post titles often mention college, help, essay, sat and common. Most posts are text posts (100%).
Is r/ApplyingToCollege safe for work?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/ApplyingToCollege as an 18+ (NSFW) community. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
How do I post on r/ApplyingToCollege?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/ApplyingToCollege accepts text posts only. It has 9 posted rules, starting with: “Be nice!”; “Admissions-related discussion.”; “No spam or solicitations.”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
Which communities are like r/ApplyingToCollege?
Communities with similar topics include r/college (2.9M), r/careerguidance (5.1M), r/GetStudying (3.3M) and r/environment (1.6M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 9, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 6, 2026; top posts from Reddit’s public feeds). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/ApplyingToCollege.